Marymount University’s Cody Gallery will host an opening reception for the exhibition “That’s Why I’m Here,” which features work by Kyle Bauer, Cynthia Connolly, Elizabeth Huey, Kim Llerena, and Jordan Rathus. The opening is from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Gallery on Thursday, March 22. The exhibition will run through May 5.
“The exhibition considers location and landscape as an impetus in creating work and questions our sense of placement within the grander scheme of space,” said its curator, Meaghan Kent, the gallery’s interim director. “Bittersweet, melancholic moments run throughout the exhibition as one discovers that within these moments of reorientation we can find perspective, humility and humor.”
The title is derived from the video work of Rathus, of Bronx, New York, in which the artist travels to artist residencies in Stavanger, Norway; Reykjavik, Iceland; and Catskill, New York.
Other works in the exhibition are marked by experiences drawn from the environment, both real and imagined.
• Llerena’s new series of “Happy Accidents” are the Washington, D.C. artist’s photographic takes of created landscapes set before a sublime space in a chance happening.
• “Knee High by the 4th of July” by Bauer is a Minimalist white sculpture reflective of car trips where the Baltimore artist would “slip into a subconscious state watching the rows in the field ‘chatter’ like frames of a movie.”
• Los Angeles-based Huey’s richly colored paintings are psychologically charged social and active settings. Each tableaux explores the division between interior and exterior consciousness as her figures are often immersed in scenes of rehabilitation and recreation.
• Connolly’s handmade mixed media letterpressed book made in the late 90s folds out into a series of images taken of trucks moving from East to West. She is an Arlington resident.
Cody Gallery, located at Ballston Center, 1100 North Glebe Road, second floor, is open Thursday through Saturday, from 1 to 6 p.m. and by appointment. Admission is free. Street parking and Capital Bikeshare are available. The gallery is located near the Ballston Metro.
Caption
Image from “Happy Accidents” by Kim Llerena, Mesa Verde National Park, CO (Cruise America), 2017
